It may seem amazing today but, for a century, roughly from the 1850s to the 1950s, Leicester had seven railway stations within the city boundary. Today, there’s just one – London Road.

My childhood memories just about stretch back to the Great Central and the Great Northern stations, but I never travelled from them.

I don’t remember the other stations and, as my parents had a car, a trip on a train was a special treat – it pretty much still is, due to the cost of rail tickets.

At one stage, as a nipper, I remember being terrified of the huge locomotives, with their deafening noise and belching smoke and steam. But these were soon replaced by the very much less nostalgic diesel locomotives, which as we now know, belch toxic fumes.

So, I was very interested to receive a copy of an interesting booklet published by PaulMedia in association with the Leicestershire Industrial History Society, called Leicester’s Stations – a Short History, which, tells the story of all the city’s railway stations.

Packed full of maps, illustrations and aerial photos, it begins with the Midland Railway’s first station, which was in Campbell Street – and a very impressive building it was too.

Elegant: The smart classical facade of Leicester's first railway station on Campbell Street was replaced by the London Road station building we know today.

Designed by William Parsons, it opened in 1840 and looked rather like a grand country house, with its huge central pediment supported by giant columns. However, despite its smart appearance, this station soon proved inadequate and after just over 50 years of service it was demolished.

Its place was taken by the attractive red-brick and terracotta station on London Road that we know and admire today.

It’s the great survivor among Leicester’s stations, but the city centre’s other main station is still there, albeit without its elegant parapet and clock tower.

This is the Great Central Station, in Great Central Street, silent now for almost half-a-century, but when first built, this line was part of a grand plan to link Britain with continental Europe.

Unlike London Road, where passengers descend to board the trains, you went up to the platforms, as the line was carried on viaducts and bridges through the city centre. The Great Central also had a large wharf which many readers will remember and which is described in detail in the book.

Leicester’s third station was the vast Great Northern, on Belgrave Road.

Although the exterior was relatively modest, there were six platforms covered by great arched and glazed roofs, along with extensive goods sidings and enormous warehouses. It was a very ambitious project.

Belgrave Road is the fondly-remembered station that linked Leicester with the east coast resorts of Skegness, Mablethorpe and Cleethorpes.

The Leicester Mercury photographers featured the enormous queues of holiday-makers that formed on Saturday mornings in the summer, waiting for the trains from Belgrave Road to the coast. Both the Midland and Great Northern lines had subsidiary stations in the city – and they were both on the same road!

But to find out more about them and the other stations featured in this well-illustrated booklet, I suggest you buy a copy. It’s a good little read.

Leicester’s Station: A Short History by PaulMedia, costs £2.50 (plus £1.50 postage) with a cheque payable to Leicestershire Industrial History Society, to David Lyne, 10 Somerville Road, Leicester LE3 2ET or see: